The head teacher of the Kotobabi 3 and 4 Primary School in the Accra Metropolis has denied allegations of ‘extorting’ money from pupils supposedly fed under the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).
Parents whose wards are in the school claim they are made to pay GH1.00 a day for their wards before they are fed with lunch under the ESFP, which is expected to be free of charge.
The move, they alleged, defeated to government strategy to provide meals daily on school days to school in public kindergarten and primary schools.
The programme initiated by the Government of Ghana in 2005, in collaboration with the Dutch Government inspired by the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Pillar 3 of NEPAD under the recommendations of the UN Millennium Task Force on Hunger, among others, seeks to boost domestic food production, increase school enrollment, attendance and retention among kindergarten and primary school children and reduce hunger and malnutrition.
However, when Daily Guide visited the school on Monday, the head teacher of the Kotobabi 3 and 4 Primary School who was highly reluctant to give her name denied all the allegations leveled against her by the parents. She however admitted that the pupils, including those in KG, paid 50 pesewas for the daily compulsory extra Classes.
She explained that she approached the caterers of the school’s canteen out of her own initiative to cook for the pupils, a gesture she claimed had been endorsed by the parents.
The head teacher disclosed that since 2011, the pupils of the school have not enjoyed the free government school feeding programme, insisting that the development even led to some parents withdrawing their children from the school.
She added: “Some of them even said they will not vote for the NDC government if the school feeding programme is not brought back.”
While admitting that the pupils paid the alleged GH1.00 for the meals, the head teacher was quick to add that the amount covered food and water.
The Kotobabi 3 and 4 primary head teacher assured that the school would discontinue with the current arrangement if the government restore the school feeding programme which had stalled for the past two years.
Source: Daily Guide
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